Matthew Perry to Headline CBS’ New Take on The Odd Couple

CBS is planning a new television series based on Neil Simon’s “The Odd Couple.” Deadline reports that “Friends” star Matthew Perry will co-write, produce and headline the series in the role of Oscar Madison, the laid-back half of the classic mismatched duo. The straight-laced Felix Ungar role has not yet been cast.

The play published in 1956, “The Odd Couple” was turned into a feature film in 1968 with Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon in the Oscar and Felix roles. They also reprised their parts for The Odd Couple II thirty years later. The property was also famously developed for television in 1970 with Jack Klugman and Tony Randall as Oscar and Felix. The show ran for five seasons and was bookended with a telefilm reunion in 1993.

Perry will write alongside Danny Jacobson (“Mad About You”) and will executive produce with Carl Beverly, Eric and Kim Tannenbaum and Sarah Timberman.